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The premise of Chris Gore's new film Red is based on a time honored adolescent phone prank carried to a ludicrous extreme. Anyone who can ever recall ringing up the local bowling alley and requesting a page for “Dick Guzinya” or “E. Nawder Titzoft” knows exactly what I mean.
The film is inspired by a series of now legendary, recorded prank calls of mysterious origin, which elicit an ever increasingly antagonistic reaction from Red Duetsch - the gruff, beleaguered proprietor of a seedy, New Jersey gin joint known as the Tube Bar. Red's urban white trash clientele don't frequent The Tube to schmooze or socialize. They are there to get schnockered on cheap watered down drinks as quickly as possible. The only atmosphere, other than an almost visible odor of fetid decay, is the irrepressible wit and charm of Red himself, who has gone on to become a posthumous cult hero.
The first half of Red consists of a staccato sequence of relentlessly obnoxious prank calls; accompanied by a montage of black and white still photos depicting veteran character actor Lawrence Tierney. His dour, bloated physical presence visually compliments the less than effervescent verbal banter of the audio. The vulgarity of the exchanges reaches such absurd extremes that it verges on performance art in its purity of essence. Obscenities lose their outrageous character when they become the only words employed and so the dialogue becomes perverse, mind numbing entertainment.
The concluding half of the film is more conventionally structured live action sequence depicting Red's wretched day to day existence with an alarmingly testosterone laden bedmate and his fantasies which involve winning a ludicrous sweepstakes and subsequent poolside frolicking with a pair of nubile, bikini clad starlets, and the gruesome obliteration of his cretinous phone nemesis and anybody else who is unfortunate enough to find themselves in the line of fire. The well-deserved fate of his adversary is, unfortunately, short lived. The post-hallucinatory conclusion jolts us back to The Tube Bar where business is being conducted as usual. We are left with Red, a creature of habit, a creature to be pitied, a creature to be despised. He went to his grave never knowing the identity of his tormentor. This is his legacy.
Overall, the film exhibits Gore's pugnacious and moribund sense of wit to an even greater degree than his previous work, Ouch!, which was a whimsical, albeit somewhat gruesome yarn. His directorial style is sharper and more focused than before. Although the character Red has absolutely no traditionally endearing qualities, we somehow find cause to pity him in his plight in much the same manner as Gore's secret hero and role model, Stephen Spielberg, was able to elicit empathy for an evil/tragic Darth Vader. Propelled by photographic stylization in the first several minutes, the film flows well and provides a steady stream of titters and chuckles, sometimes verging on the guffaw. The hard core Red tape fans will, no doubt, find it hilarious - a much anticipated, visual manifestation of their fourth generation audio cassette treasure. At the same time, they may blanch at the thought of their elite, subterranean cult being exposed through this film, the accompanying “Red” fan club, and the subsequent mass exposure. How long will it be before Gore appears on “Entertainment Tonight' singing the praises of Red Deutsch to Mary Hart? After all, it happened to Elvis.
Since the subject matter is so narrow, the film certainly benefits from not being any lengthier than the thirty-five minutes it is. Gore understands and appreciates the merits of brevity, especially in such a claustrophobic setting. My major criticism of Red lies not with the “film” but with some of the phraseology, which appears on the packaging. The laudatory, obviously manufactured quote “Combined with the original, profanity ridden “Red” tapes, Red the movie is sure to become a cult favorite,” is pretentious cliché unbecoming of mavericks like Gore who would usually decry such pomposity if employed by others. True cult films are some of an intangible phenomenon immune to manipulation not fabricated by a publicist on the film's payroll.
The original audio version of Red's misadventures has indeed reached and maintained a true cult status, not through hype, but through word of mouth among Red Deutsch's legion of enthusiastic fans. The film version of Red could very well become a popular cult item, but that is not for the creators or their employees to decide. In the meantime, Red, while not quite yet achieving its self-proclaimed cult status, is a noteworthy effort; especially in light of the seemingly endless torment that Gore and his crew endured in order to complete this project.
Film Threat may be contemporary, but Red is eternal!
- By Vic Stanley
Red review from the Brutarian
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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